Owari Tokugawa family (尾張徳川家)
The Owari Tokugawa family was a subsidiary line of the Tokugawa family and one of Tokugawa Gosanke (three privileged branches of the Tokugawa family); and its successive family heads assumed the lord of Owari Domain. It is simply referred to as "the Owari family" or "the Bishu family." It was ranked the highest among three families of Tokugawa Gosanke and held the highest family status among daimyos (Japanese feudal lords).
Summary
It was founded by Yoshinao TOKUGAWA, the ninth son of Ieyasu TOKUGAWA, and governed Owari Domain throughout the Edo period. When the Tokugawa Shogun family was not blessed with a son to become the next Shogun, the Owari Tokugawa family along with two other Tokugawa Gosanke families held a right to nominate the successor of the Shogun from their families. However, the family, backing its family head Tsugutomo TOKUGAWA, lost in the competition for the Shogun's position which had occurred after the death of the seventh Shogun Ietsugu TOKUGAWA, and ultimately Yoshimune TOKUGAWA from the Kishu Tokugawa family assumed the eighth Shogun. Afterward, Gosankyo (Three Lord: three junior collateral houses of the Tokugawa family) was established, so the Owari Tokugawa family was not able to produce a Seitaishogun (the formal title name of the Shogun, which originally means the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force against the barbarians) to the end.
The Takasu Matsudaira family, which governed Takasu Domain in Mino Province, was one of subsidiary line (called "Gorenshi") of the Owari Tokugawa family. However, many of the family heads of both the Owari Tokugawa and Takasu Matsudaira families were short-lived; therefore, Yoshinao's direct male descendants died out in the Owari Tokugawa family in 1799, and in the Takasu Matsudaira family in 1801. In and after the nineteenth century, the Owari Tokugawa family managed successions by adoption to continue the family up to today.
After the Meiji Restoration, the Owari Tokugawa family was ranked among kazoku (the nobility) and received the title of Marquis. Yoshichika TOKUGAWA, the 19th family head of the Owari Tokugawa family adopted from the Echizen Matsudaira family, founded the Owari Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation (at present, the Tokugawa Reimeikai foundation). In 1935, this foundation opened the Tokugawa Museum at the site of the second residence of the Owari Tokugawa family in Higashi Ward, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture. There, valuable cultural properties that had been handed down in the Owari Tokugawa family, including Genji Monogatari Emaki (illustrated hand scrolls of the Tale of Genji), are preserved and exhibited.
Successive family heads and their offspring
The first (the lord of the domain): Yoshinao TOKUGAWA
Mitsutomo (the second lord of Owari Domain)
The second (the lord of the domain): Mitsutomo TOKUGAWA
Tsunanari (the third lord of Owari Domain)
Yoshiyuki MATSUDAIRA (the founder of the Yotsuya Matsudaira Family; the first lord of Takasu Domain)
Yoshimasa MATSUDAIRA (the founder of the Okubo Matsudaira family; the first lord of Yanagawa Domain in Mutsu Province)
Tomoaki MATSUDAIRA (the founder of the Kawatakubo Matsudaira family)
Tomoatsu (later, the third lord of Takasu Domain, Yoshiatsu; then, succeeded to the main family to become the eighth lord of Owari Domain, Munekatsu TOKUGAWA)
The third (the lord of the domain): Tsunanari TOKUGAWA
Yoshimichi (the fourth lord of Owari Domain)
Michiaki (later, the sixth lord of Owari Domain, Tsugutomo TOKUGAWA)
Yoshitaka MATSUDAIRA (the second lord of Takasu Domain)
Michiharu MATSUDAIRA (the lord of Yanagawa Domain in Mutsu Province; later, the seventh lord of Owari Domain, Muneharu TOKUGAWA)
Princess Matsu (an adopted daughter of the fifth Shogun Tsunayoshi TOKUGAWA; later, the legal wife of Yoshinori MAEDA, the lord of Kaga Domain)
The fourth (the lord of the domain): Yoshimichi TOKUGAWA
Gorota (the fifth lord of Owari Domain)
The fifth (the lord of the domain): Gorota TOKUGAWA
(He had no child.)
The sixth (the lord of the domain): Tsugutomo TOKUGAWA (a son of the third lord, Tsunanari)
(He had no child.)
The seventh (the lord of the domain): Muneharu TOKUGAWA (a son of the third lord, Tsunanari)
(He had no child.)
The eighth (the lord of the domain): Munekatsu TOKUGAWA (adopted; a son of the third lord of Takasu Domain, a branch domain of Owari; a grandson of the second lord, Mitsutomo)
Munechika (the ninth lord of Owari Domain)
Yoshitoshi MATSUDAIRA (the fourth lord of Takasu Domain)
Yoshie (the fifth lord of Takasu Domain; later, Haruyuki TOKUGAWA, an heir of the ninth lord of Owari Domain, Munechika)
Yoshihiro MATSUDAIRA (the sixth lord of Takasu Domain)
Katsumasa MATSUDAIRA (the seventh lord of Takasu Domain; the last family head directly descended from Yoshinao in the Takasu Matsudaira family)
Katsuoki TAKENOKOSHI (an adopted son of the attendant chief retainer of Owari Domain, Masatake TAKENOKOSHI)
Masakuni INOUE (an adopted son of the Inoue family which governed Takaoka Domain in Shimousa Province)
The ninth (the ninth lord of the domain): Munechika TOKUGAWA
Horuyoshi
Haruoki
The tenth (the lord of the domain): Naritomo TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Hitotsubashi Tokugawa family)
(He had no child.)
The eleventh (the lord of the domain): Nariharu TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Tokugawa Shogun family; a biological son of the eleventh Shogun, Ienari TOKUGAWA)
(He had no child.)
The twelfth (the lord of the domain): Naritaka TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Tayasu Tokugawa family; a biological son of the eleventh Shogun, Ienari TOKUGAWA.)
Masamaru (the eighth family head of Hitotsubashi Tokugawa family; died prematurely)
The thirteenth (the lord of the domain): Yoshitsugu TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Tayasu Tokugawa family)
(He had no child.)
The fourteenth (the lord of the domain): Yoshikatsu TOKUGAWA (first called Yoshikumi; adopted from the lord family of Takasu Domain, a branch domain of Owari; a great-grandchild of the sixth lord of Mito Domain, Harumori TOKUGAWA)
Yoshinori (the sixteenth lord of Owari Domain)
The fifteenth (the lord of the domain): Mochinaga (adopted; a son of the eleventh lord from of Takasu Domain, a branch domain of Owari; a biological younger brother of the fourteenth lord, Yoshikatsu)
Yoshimasa MATSUDAIRA (the twelfth lord of Takasu Domain.)
Satomichi TOKUGAWA (the eleventh family head of Hitotsubashi Tokugawa family; later, a count)
The sixteenth (the lord of the domain): Yoshinori TOKUGAWA (adopted; a biological son of the fourteenth lord, Yoshikatsu)
(He had no child.)
The seventeenth (the lord of the domain): Yoshikatsu TOKUGAWA (the fourteenth lord, reappointed)
Yoshikumi TOKUGAWA (a founder of a branch of the Owari Tokugawa family; a baron)
Yoshihiro TOKUGAWA (the family head of a branch of the Owari Tokugawa family; a baron; the Grand Chamberlain for the Emperor Showa)
Owari Tokugawa Marquis family
The eighteenth (a marquis): Yoshiakira TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Takamatsu Matsudaira family; his wife was a daughter of the seventeenth lord, Yoshikatsu)
The nineteenth (a marquis): Yoshichika TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Echizen Matsudaira family; his wife was a daughter of the eighteenth lord, Yoshiakira)
Yoshitomo (the twentieth family head of the Owari Tokugawa family)
Owari Tokugawa family heads after the war
The twentieth family head: Yoshitomo TOKUGAWA
The twenty-first family head: Yoshinobu TOKUGAWA (adopted from the Hotta family; his wife was a daughter of the twentieth family head, Yoshitomo)
The twenty-second family head: Yoshitaka TOKUGAWA